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One of my favorite “truisms” or slogans that one hears in
meditation halls or in the rooms of recovery is “Don’t believe everything you
think.” And we think A LOT as humans
beings. Researchers say that on average
we have 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts each day. We have these amazing minds that
are so good at making sense of our experiences.
We feel we can think our way out of almost anything. And our ability to think, imagine and predict
outcomes, and learn from our past and our memories, has put us at the top of
the food chain.

“Question: If one has no thoughts, no ideas, no reflections, and no mental processes - how can one have a Buddha's knowledge of everything in all its aspects?Answer: Once the false ideas no longer arise, as soon as one abstains from all of them, the true nature which exists within the core of our own being reveals itself and omniscience together with it….The Buddha-nature which is ours from the very beginning is like the sun which emerges from the clouds, or like a mirror which, when rubbed, regains its original purity and clarity.

Dear Friends: I am resubmitting this blog posting from last year. Hard to believe a year has gone by! I am hoping you all find some peace and serenity during this season of giving thanks. -SL

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Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, and my
affection for it grows as I age. Perhaps
it’s the relative lack of commercialism associated with it, or the fond
memories from childhood of an idyllic feast at my grandparents’ house, a day
when for a few hours at least we could relax into the moment, watch the
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, a
Charlie Brown TV special, and forget the stress and pain of life at home.

It is with great gratitude and a full heart that I sit down to write the first blog posting for the San Francisco Mindfulness Foundation! What started out as two friends and colleagues talking about the remarkable changes that a mindfulness practice has wrought in our personal and professional lives, grew into the expansion of our educational experiences into the various mindfulness-based therapies that have been developed [such asmindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP),stress reduction (MBSR), cognitive therapy (MBCT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)], and that in turn grew into a desire to share this knowledge with others.